[Editor’s note: This curated guide was updated in April 2022 to reflect new trends today and to include our most recent content.]

When people -- experts included -- talk about DevOps they too often think in terms of the technology or a methodology. Then, there are the people who say it's just another way to do application development. At its core, though, DevOps is really about a combination of process and corporate culture.

Yes, there is a need for tech and methodologies such as Agile. Yes, it deals with app development, but not the old, static development approach that sometimes even met most of the functional requirements mapped out two years before rollout.

DevOps is more like an earth-shaking shift in institutional thinking. It's about building software and managing the supporting systems to better meet the current and future needs of the business.

As you will see as you walk through the many InformationWeek articles in this Enterprise Guide to DevOps, the challenges, and opportunities enterprises face in implementing a DevOps strategy center on people, communication, and flexibility with assistance from tech, automation, and standard methodologies. Effective DevOps teams leverage technology to improve customer experiences, drive sales, and support user departments with the information that they need not just today but in the months and years to come as the business environment shifts.

This guide provides a view into the state of DevOps today, why enterprises may need DevOps, how to succeed with the concept, mistakes to avoid, and what your peers have learned in their DevOps experiences.

Check out these articles and the hundreds of other informative content pieces -- about IT management, careers, analytics, AI, cloud, and more.

The State of DevOps

How AI and Machine Learning are Evolving DevOps

Artificial intelligence and ML can help us take DevOps to the next level through identifying problems more quickly and further automating our processes.

Six DevOps Misconceptions Debunked

While DevOps is firmly grounded, numerous myths and misconceptions have grown up around the concept, several of which have prevented organizations from getting the most out of their teams.

The IT Backlog in the Age of DevOps

DevOps and the implementation of more no-code and low-code applications are changing the way organizations approach software development. Does software maintenance need to change, too?

What's Holding DevOps Back?

DevOps teams are at different stages of maturity. However, there are some common challenges they face along the way.

AIOps, DevSecOps, and Beyond: Exploring New Facets of DevOps

The inclusion of security and artificial intelligence in the mix is making DevOps more complex but is also creating new possibilities to hasten delivery.

The State of DevOps

This special report by Informa's InformationWeek and Interop teams takes a look at where organizations are making progress with DevOps and where they face challenges.

The Evolving Narrative of Moving from DevOps to DevSecOps

We need an integrated development approach that is automated to create the right balance between speed and risk to avoid costly rework and business slowdown.

Why DevOps Will Have to Change This Year

Rocked by COVID in 2020, DevOps teams will face new challenges -- and opportunities -- over the next 12 months. Here's a look at what to expect.

Workflow Concerns Temper DevOps Adoption in Healthcare

A survey by Redgate highlights expectations and reservations the healthcare sector has about diving into DevOps methodology.

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11 Ways DevOps Is Evolving

While DevOps as a practice is evolving, so are the roles within a DevOps team. Following are explanations of some of the trends worth watching.

Q&A: DevOps Institute's Jayne Groll on the Future

Where do enterprises find DevOps talent? Through hiring or reskilling/training existing IT staff?

Modern Developers Don’t Sit Behind Walls

Nurture your developers: They need to be empowered to work seamlessly across environments, which requires removing platforms from silos and shifting to a modern hybrid IT architecture.

DevOps Tool Proliferation

Tool proliferation remains one of the challenging double-edged swords facing DevOps-minded teams.

Why DevOps?

Why DevOps is Critical to Digital Transformation

Organizations should focus on automation and efficiency to keep pace with pandemic-driven technology transformation.

How to Align DevOps with Your PaaS Strategy

Neither DevOps nor PaaS is new. However, aligning the two of them is efficient and cost-effective.

DevOps: Big Effort, Big Benefits

While you might think that integrating dev and ops would be straightforward, implementing DevOps involves spanning different silos, culture, philosophies, mindsets, and tool sets. But if you can overcome these natural barriers, the rewards are great.

4 Reasons Why Your Company Might Not Be Ready for DevOps

Make DevOps the culture of your organization, driven by the CEO and a team of leaders with a clear understanding of the implications and outcomes.

DevOps Isn’t a Dirty Word

Here’s how visionaries can most effectively make the case for DevOps transformation.

The Challenges and Rewards of Adopting DevOps

As the world moves towards cloud and services, DevOps adoption is increasing. This is because organizations that utilize cloud services are more likely to have dynamic architectures that can accommodate continuous delivery, and so lend themselves to more iterative deployments.

DevOps 101: Adopt Continuous Innovation

DevOps requires some hard work and tough choices, but in the end can keep a business competitive and innovative.

Five-Step Action Plan for DevOps at Scale

DevOps is achievable at enterprise scale if you start small, create a dedicated team and effectively use technology patterns and platforms.

Is Automation an Existential Threat to Developers?

Automation is alive and well across the enterprise, including in DevOps. But if AI can write code, then developer roles will evolve.

The Growing Security Priority for DevOps and Cloud Migration

A survey asserts that while security may be increasingly top of mind, many organizations are unsatisfied with their current footing on that front.

Can Enterprises Benefit from Adopting Database DevOps?

Treating databases like code for deployment might be another step toward transformation, but these are still the early days in the process.

Does DevSecOps Require Observability to Get the Job Done?

A panel at DeveloperWeek took a look at potential exposure organizations may face if their DevSecOps cycle does not include observability of apps.

Success with DevOps

How to Build a DevOps Center of Excellence

Whether you are new to DevOps or a seasoned pro, a DevOps Center of Excellence can help your organization maximize the potential of DevOps.

Ways to Fight the Skills Gap in DevOps and the Cloud

Engineers and developers need to break out of their specialized zones and learn more tricks to meet hiring demands, say stakeholders.

Making CI/CD Work for DevOps Teams

Many DevOps teams are advancing to CI/CD -- some more gracefully than others. Recognizing common pitfalls and following best practices helps.

What Product Teams Can Learn from DevOps Principles

For teams looking to adopt the product-led growth business model, look no further than the principles laid out by DevOps teams for guidance on how to do it right.

What to Know When Migrating DevOps to Microservice Architectures

If your DevOps team is planning to migrate from traditional server architectures to microservices, there are distinct changes that IT leaders must keep in mind.

A Strategy to Aid Underserved Communities and Fill Tech Jobs

A nonprofit DevOps academy takes an educational approach to open up career opportunities for the underserved as well as address ongoing demand for IT personnel.

How to Make the Leap to DevOps

While it's easy to make the business case for DevOps, executing it may be the trickiest leadership task you'll ever face. Here are three steps that can help.

Must Have DevOps Skills

Engineers, developers, and IT managers might want to consider training on these skill sets to keep themselves invaluable to their organizations.

Don't Do DevOops

Pitfalls to Avoid When Setting Up a DevOps Center of Excellence

Assembling a center of excellence can help promote knowledge-sharing between colleagues and facilitate DevOps adoption, but you should avoid five common mistakes.

DevOps or DevOops?

IT continues to expand DevOps use, but there are still some quirks and limitations that are tripping it up.

How DevOps Teams Get Automation Backwards

Will automation speed up your processes, or will you end up with a brittle system that will demand constant attention and frequent, time-consuming fixes?

Questions to Ask About DevOps Strategy On-Prem vs. the Cloud

Not every company can or wants to go cloud native but that does not mean they are completely cut off from the advantages of DevOps.

DevOps: Watch Out for These 5 Common Snags

Don’t try to speed row on a frozen lake. DevOps is an exciting digital transformation initiative but keep your eyes wide open as the new process unfolds or you’ll get stuck.

User Experience with DevOps

Ancestry’s DevOps Strategy to Control Its CI/CD Pipeline

The genealogy company sought a different approach to corral its software development and deployment.

Why Credit Karma Crafted a Tool to Automate Its DevOps Cycle

The personal finance company created a way to boost efficiency for developing and releasing features from its engineers.

Intel Shares Its Transformation Strategy at DevOps World

Changing human behavior and leadership support were integral to driving a more agile approach to software and firmware development.

Why Fiserv Turned to Microservices for API Development

Open source, cloud-based architecture helped the fintech company cut costs and address developer talent demands.